


With A Little Help From My Friends

by just_another_classic



Series: Finding Neverland [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Break Up, Drinking, Friendship, Gen, Next-Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 16:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9191849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_classic/pseuds/just_another_classic
Summary: After a disastrous breakup with her girlfriend, Robin Mills is surprised when Gideon Gold and Juliet Jones show up at her doorstep with a little pick-me-up.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coaldustcanary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coaldustcanary/gifts).



> Dedicated to @coaldustcanary. I've hit a roadblock with "The Happiest Pregnancy Ever", so here's some NextGen to tide you over.

There was a tentative knock on the door.

It was soft, and Robin wouldn’t have realized it was actually a knock if she hadn’t been curled in the chair closest to the door. She wondered who it could be. Her heart skipped for a moment, thinking it could be Pallavi returning to apologize, say she was wrong and that she understood.

But, it wasn’t. 

That much Robin knew. Pallavi was back in Chicago, attending a celebration for her parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. It had been the plan for Robin to join her. She even bought the plane ticket. But then Robin had to open her mouth, bare her heart, only to have it crushed by the woman she loved. So, instead of Chicago, she was left in her studio in Philadelphia, alone and heartbroken.

There was another knock, this time more insistent.  
  
She debated letting it go. She really had no idea who it could be. She hadn’t ordered delivery. She’d paid rent, so it wasn’t as if her landlord was making her rounds demanding a check. For all she knew it could be Mormons or Girl Scouts on the other side of the door, neither of which appealed to her, as tempting as cookies might be. Besides, her hair was in disarray, and she was dressed in flannel pajama pants, mismatched socks, and a stained Smith sweatshirt. She was in to state to talk to anyone.  
  
So, of course, it was in that moment when her apartment door was assaulted with a barrage of knocks, each louder than the last.  
  
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” she growled, flinging herself off the chair and storming toward the door. She was in no mood to deal with anyone, especially assholes who didn’t know how to politely knock on the door. Robin wrenched open the door, shouting as she pulled it open, “Listen here, keep knocking like that, and I’ll…”

Her voice trailed off when she saw who was on the other side of the door: her closest friend, her confidante, and all around reliable guy, Gideon Gold, brandishing her favorite bottle of wine in his hand. Standing next to him, was Juliet Jones. She was looking up at Gideon, a smug smile on her face.  
  
“Told you I could get her to open the door.”

“What are you two doing here?” Robin asked, somewhat stunned as Juliet swept into the apartment. Gideon apologetically ducked in after her, and made his way toward her kitchen.

“Corkscrew?” he asked, waving the bottle of merlot.

Robin stood dumbstruck by the door, feeling as if she had no control over her life and apartment. Gideon began to root through her drawers, making an “ah ha!” noise when he found her corkscrew.

“That’s not an answer for why you’re here.” 

“You haven’t been answering my messages,” Gideon explained, the soft tone of his voice a direct contrast to the force he was applying to the wine bottle. “I was worried.”

“I’m alive.” Robin felt both a surge of annoyance and affection toward her friend. It was truly nice that he cared for her post-breakup wellbeing, but she bristled at how he felt the need to drive all the way from New York to actually check up on her. “You didn’t need to come up here. I’m doing fine.” 

“If by fine, you mean you look like shit, sure.”

“Be nice, J,” Gideon warned, throwing a glare to Juliet.

 “I am being nice. It’s called honesty.” Robin didn’t honestly know why Juliet was even here, other than the fact that the she was Gideon’s roommate. In Storybrooke, they hadn’t even been friends. The only reason they were even in one another’s orbits was because of their family’s tangled family tree. “Anyway, Robin, go take a shower. Gid and I will take care of dinner, and then the fun can begin.”

“Fun?" Robin asked, alarmed. She turned her attention to Gideon, who was looking at her sheepishly.

“We were, um, hoping to take you out. Get your mind off things.”

Robin crossed her arms. “I don’t need to get my mind off of things.”

“And yet, here we are, wanting to take you out,” Juliet said flatly. She began to usher Juliet toward her bathroom. “Now, take a shower. I’ve forgot to eat lunch, and I’m starving. The sooner you are stop arguing, the sooner I can eat.”

Robin acquiesced, if only because she was overwhelmed and wanted a space to herself to process just exactly what was happening. From beyond the bathroom’s door, she could hear Gideon and Juliet laughing at something, though she wasn’t sure what. A self-conscious part of her brain wondered if it might be _her_ , but she dismissed it. They wouldn’t drive all the way down here just to laugh.  
  
Robin hadn’t been the most popular kid growing up. She had been an awkward child, all gangly legs and unruly hair. That coupled with the fact that her mother was the Wicked Witch, and not at all well-liked, made her ripe for teasing. How many afternoons had she gone home crying as a child?

It was honestly something she and Gideon had bonded over in their youth. Not that he was necessarily teased, just somewhat lonely. No one wanted to trust the son of the Dark One. In their pre-teens, they had stared a “Villainous Parents Club”, an in-joke between the two of them.

It wasn’t until she had left Storybrooke for college that people actively wanted to be her friend. At Smith, she wasn’t the daughter of the Wicked Witch, niece of the Evil Queen, and granddaughter of the Queen of Hearts. She was just Robin Mills, a girl from the middle-of-nowhere Maine. She was invited to parties, people to sit with happily at lunch, and friends to stay up late with late until the night talking about everything from relationships to music to the awfulness of the political theory professor.  
  
But despite it all, she always felt as if she was holding something back. Henry had nicknamed it the “Storybrooke Curse”. Before she had started college, Henry had sat her down and warned her about how difficult it would be adjust in the Land Without Magic.

“You won’t realize it at first,” he had said over a plate of onion rings at Granny’s, “but you’ll begin to lie. Small things, really. Oh, that’s my Aunt Mary Margaret and Uncle David. I got this scar on my leg from a bicycle accident, not a sword. Just small things. The thing is, it will add up over time, and you begin to question your friendships, your relationships. Are you really that close if you have to lie? Will they think I’m crazy if I let them know who I really am?”

She hadn’t taken him seriously back then. Years later, and a dozen or so somewhat estranged relationships later, she finally understood. It was why Gideon and Juliet had shown up at her door. It was why Pallavi had left.

Pallavi – beautiful, smart, funny. A hopeless dancer, and an even more hopeless cook. She was passionate about everything she did, from her research to her opinions on bad reality television shows. Robin had thought she could be the one. Her “True Love”. So she had confessed everything. About Storybrooke, about magic. About how practically every fairy tale character was a real person.

Pallavi thought she was joking at first. Then, she had thought Robin might be suffering a psychotic break, that her graduate school workload was getting to her. And then, she left.  
  
And now, Gideon and Juliet were in her apartment, laughing about whatever while Robin did her best not to drown herself in the shower’s stream. She wondered, not for the first time, if the Storybrooke Curse was part of the reason why Juliet went to school and New York, and why Gideon stayed in the city med school. Their friendship didn’t always make sense to Robin – or anyone from Storybrooke, really – but since moving for school, they’d been close, going as far as to rent an apartment together. 

“She understands everything, you know,” Gideon had explained when Robin had shown incredulity at the arrangement. “You’d actually like her if you got to know her.”

Robin still highly doubted that, but she appreciated that Gideon had a friend to rely upon. She, herself, wished she had a friend nearby to talk about “Storybrooke things” and vent, rather than calling Gideon or her family. She’d hoped that Pallavi could finally be that person. She was wrong.

By the time Robin exited the bathroom, Gideon and Juliet had taken up residence on her couch. Juliet had stretched out lengthwise, her legs resting over Gideon’s lap. Both had glasses of wine and were reading.

“We ordered Thai,” Gideon announced, looking up from his book as Robin padded into the living room. “We got you your favorite— red curry.”

“Thanks.” She felt awkward standing there in her pink robe as Gideon and Juliet looked so intimate and at home. She had forgotten to grab a change of clothes from her closet when Juliet had ushered her into the bathroom. “Um, I’m going to grab some things and change.”

“Dress in something vaguely hot, we’re going out after dinner,” Juliet called out, not bothering to look up from her book. “If you still have the top you wore to the summer cookout, wear that. It makes your boobs look good.”

Pallavi had always said the same thing. Feeling a punch in her gut at the memory of her ex, she pulled out an emerald sweater that she felt always complimented her eyes. She dug through her drawers for a pair of clean jeans – she desperately needed to do laundry – and then hurried to the bathroom. By the time she had exited the bathroom, hair dried and now dressed, Gideon and Juliet had put away their books.

“You look nice, Robin,” Juliet said. Robin must have pulled a face at her uncharacteristic niceness, because Juliet added. “If I told you that you looked like shit, I should at least say when you don’t look like shit. Which you don’t. So there.”

“Um thanks.” Robin moved to her favorite armchair. “Also, thanks for coming up. You guys really didn’t have to.”  
  
“I should really be thanking you. It saved me from listening to Juliet binge watch medical dramas.” Gideon mock glared at his roommate, who smiled at him cheekily. Since Gideon started medical school, Juliet had taken to binge watching every show that vaguely fell within the “doctor” genre.

“Don’t act like you don’t love it, Gid. He totally loves it.”

“I totally don’t.”

“Do so.” 

“So how’s school for both of you?” Robin asked, effectively cutting off the banter. She wasn’t quite in the mood for cute banter, nor did she want to think about why Gideon and Juliet had cute banter.  
  
Thankfully, the banter mostly ended as Gideon launched into a story about medical school foibles. Robin cut in with her own stories about how graduate school was kicking her ass, as well. She was counting down the days until she completed her PsyD, and could actually open her own practice.

That had been another point of contention between her and Pallavi. Robin had wanted to move back to Storybrooke and open her own counseling practice. While Dr. Hopper was certainly a nice man, he didn’t make for the best therapist. Storybrooke deserved someone who actually earned their degree. Pallavi had never liked the idea of moving to a small town. Prior to undergrad, she had never lived anywhere smaller than Chicago, and grew exceptionally bored in Northampton. She was much happier in Philly, where they both went to school now, whereas Robin realized she hated the city life. She had the hope – now false – that if Pallavi learned just how exciting Storybrooke could be she would want to at least try it out.

Eventually, dinner arrived. Juliet tipped the delivery man generously, and waved off Robin when she tried to pay. “You’ve had a bad few weeks, so like we said, it’s on us.”

“Does that include the drinks tonight?”

“We’re not barbarians. Of course they are. They’re on Gid’s tab.” Juliet winked. She once again resettled onto the couch, and passed around their respective takeaway boxes.  
  
Over dinner, they discussed Storybrooke gossip they had gleaned from calls and visits home.

“Alex and Tom are getting a divorce. No surprise there.”

“Did you see Melody’s wedding dress?” “Would it be bad taste to make a mermaid cut pun?” “No worse than her taste in bridesmaid dresses.”

“My mom caught Tom and Becky going at it in the stacks.” “Again, no surprise there.” 

It was all so incredibly superficial, and a little bit mean. But, it was nice. And for a brief moment, Robin was able to take her mind off things and laugh. Despite the unexpected intrusion, she was growing increasingly grateful for Gideon’s – and even Juliet’s – presence.

The latter part was obviously something Robin never thought she’d say, but at times like tonight, Juliet’s charismatic presence and sense of humor was welcome. Juliet naturally commanded the attention of those in the room, a characteristic Robin had always resented, but tonight she drew Robin’s attention outward instead of her own inward misery. Maybe this was what Gideon had meant when he said Robin would learn to like her. 

Not that she ever expected her relationship with Juliet to grow beyond and mutual understanding built upon being from the same hometown. Gideon often propped up the fact that they were both intelligent – Juliet had just started her final year at Columbia, while Robin had a degree from Smith under her belt, and was working toward a PsyD from UPenn – but Robin knew that was a superficial similarity.

Where Robin was reserved, Juliet was outgoing. Robin preferred to spend her weekends inside with a book and wine, or at the very least a good movie. Juliet operated by the philosophy “work hard, party hard”, and spent her Saturdays nights scouting out new clubs or bars. (An activity that, judging from social media, Gideon had begun to join her in.) In school, Robin had been involved with honor societies and knitting club. Juliet starred in the drama department’s productions, and had been elected class president. Robin had skipped her senior prom, whereas for her respective prom, Juliet had been voted queen. Even their use of magic differed, with Robin going for precision, and Juliet preferring raw power.  
  
In short, Robin doubted they would ever become close friends. But, that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate what Juliet had to offer every now and then – even if that included being dragged to a bar after dinner. Thankfully, the place they ended up didn’t appear similar to the New York bars Juliet liked to frequent – all trendy with drink prices Robin assumed were exorbitant. Though crowded, this one felt much Robin’s own speed. She wondered if Gideon had a hand in choosing where they went.

They somehow managed to find a booth they could huddle in, and Gideon went off to order their drinks, leaving Robin and Juliet alone in the booth. They sat awkwardly together, both distracting themselves with their devices as they waited for Gideon to return. Unfortunately, Juliet appeared to dislike the silence more, because she turned to Robin, and said, “Just so you know, I’m totally sober. I had a glass of wine before coming here obviously, but that’s nothing.” 

“Um. Okay?”

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you this while I was sober, because I plan on getting at least a little more than tipsy tonight,” Juliet explained. Robin felt a bubble of dread brewing in her stomach, and she searched for Gideon, who still stood by the bar. She wasn’t even sure if he had ordered yet. Juliet didn’t notice Robin’s discomfort, or if she did, she clearly didn’t care, because she continued on, “So, okay, here it goes: I know you feel like absolute crap, and that’s totally expected. But, I wanted you to know that I think you’re incredibly brave for laying it all out there.”

“Um, thanks.” Robin wished that Gideon would hurry up. She debated just going up to the bar to join him, but knew Juliet would likely take it as an insult. For all she knew, Gideon would take it as an insult, considering how he’d been going out of his way recently to talk up Juliet’s finer points.

“I mean, I wasn’t able to do it when I dated Adam. Do you remember Adam?”

Of course, Robin remembered Adam. It had been a juicy bit of Storybrooke gossip when it came out that Juliet had started dating the Vice President of the United State’s son, Adam Parker. They’d broken up for unclear reasons. Robin now saw his picture every so often on the news, as his mother was now running for President. Briefly, Robin wondered how Juliet felt seeing “Parker for President” plastered everywhere.

“That’s actually why we broke up, you know? I realized I could never take him back to Storybrooke. And when he told me that his mom was considering running in the primary, I knew it’d mean that the press would try to dig up anything that could hurt her chances, including the fact that her son was dating a girl whose dad claimed to be Captain Hook. And, I didn’t want that.”  
  
“What a brave patriot you are, sacrificing your relationship to help get Madelyn Parker elected.”  
  
Juliet glared, clearly not appreciating Robin’s sarcasm. “I broke up with him, for Storybrooke, not America. I knew I couldn’t tell him, I knew I couldn’t stay with him, and I knew I didn’t want to risk anyone poking around. So, I ended it instead of telling him, and for the longest time I wondered if I made the right decision.” 

“You do realize that’s nothing like my situation right?” Robin craned her head to look back at the bar, hoping the bartender would just hurry up. “Besides, I thought the point of tonight was to get my mind off of things, not bring it up.”

Juliet flushed. “Right, so, um, what’s your favorite time you’ve been stabbed?”

“ _What?”_

“Have you been stabbed? I forget. Anyway, let’s amend: what’s your favorite time you’ve been stabbed and/or experience some fucked up magical calamity?” Juliet looked at Robin expectantly. “For me, it was when I got kidnapped by pirates as a baby. I mean, I don’t remember it, but it makes for a cool story I can’t tell absolutely anyone outside of Storybrooke.” 

“What are you even on?”

Juliet raised her hands in defense. “You’re the one who wanted to change the subject. I changed the subject.”

“You changed it to _stabbing_.”

“Or kidnappings and/or other strange calamities.” Juliet made a show out of waving her arm around the room. “You could talk about TV or politics or the injustice of Murakami never winning a Nobel with anyone in this room, but this table right here is the only place in the entire bar where you can talk about Storybrooke shit.” 

Robin opened her mouth to argue, but Juliet was, on some weird level, correct. Juliet and Gideon – once he returned from the bar – were the only people with whom she could really discuss her unconventional childhood. Sped-up pregnancies, kidnappings, the time the town almost blew up – those were stories she had to hide from Pallavi and their friends, or at the very least greatly amend.

“Okay,” Robin began, finally giving it. “It was that time we all ended up in Arendelle, and I got caught in a blizzard, but was rescued by a reindeer that really didn’t appreciate being called Rudolph.”

“See? Was that so hard?” Juliet’s expression looked a little bit like triumph, but it quickly morphed into glee when she saw Gideon approaching with their drinks. “Oh, my hero!” 

“I’m glad to see you didn’t kill one another while I was gone,” Gideon said as he passed Robin her cider. He settled in to the side of the booth that Juliet was occupying.

“There was only minimal discussion of stabbings, thank you very much,” Juliet replied with a wink. Gideon looked somewhat confused, but didn’t press further. “So, Gid, what is your favorite fucked up thing to happen in your life?” 

“Probably the fact that I was kidnapped by my grandmother, raised in dark realm to kill your mother, defeated and then de-aged, and then magicked so I don’t remember,” Gideon said without missing a beat. “Thank the gods for memory spells.”  
  
“That’s something you never hear back home,” Robin said before taking a long pull from her bottle. 

This was a conversation she could never have with Pallavi, at least not in the two years they had been together. Stabbings, sleeping curses, and kidnappings were not topics most people could discuss in casual conversation, let alone joke about. Robin wondered if this had been a calculated decision on Juliet’s part. Realizing that she didn’t wish to dwell on Juliet Jones’ motives, Robin decided to focus on something else: drinking.

So, she drank, and drank, and drank some more. She downed whatever Gideon and Juliet placed in front of her. Robin knew, logically, that drinking as much as she was could be described as nothing else but a “bad decision”, but the emotional side didn’t care. The pleasant buzz of alcohol numbed the pain, and she reasoned that the entire reason Gideon and Juliet were even here was for her to drink.

Gideon still managed to ply her with glasses of water though, his attempt to ensure she didn’t get too drunk or experience too bad of a hangover the next day. He wasn’t drinking, opting instead to be the designated driver for the night. Robin had a sneaking suspicion that he decided to abstain should shit hit the fan at some point, but she didn’t mind. She appreciated having a friend who wanted to be _responsible_. She also appreciated having a friend who cared enough to drive from New York City to Philadelphia.

“I really don’t know how to say ‘thank you’ for this,” she told him late into the night. Juliet had left the table to go to the bathroom or make a call – Robin didn’t really remember which – leaving just her and Gideon at the table. It felt right to have this conversation with her oldest friend.

Gideon shrugged across from her, bashful under her praise. “It’s what friends are for, right? Looking out for one another. I’m sure if the situations were reversed, you would do the same.”

“I would,” she reached out to grab his hand, squeezing it. “Speaking of, how is the love life? I haven’t heard anything since Stella, and that was awhile ago. I’d hate for us both to be in the Lonely Hearts Club.”

Though Gideon had dated over the years, he’d never had anyone stick for too long. He had dated his last girlfriend, Stella, for almost a year before they had a messy breakup, and that had been his longest relationship to date. Though she wanted him to find happiness similar to what she had shared with Pallavi at the time, Robin wasn’t sorry to see Stella go. She’d once overheard Juliet describe the aspiring filmmaker as “a bit too much like Mark from _Rent”_ , a comparison of which Robin tended to agree based on the one interaction they ever had.

But Gideon and Stella had ended things months ago. While Robin knew that med school took its toll, she wanted him to have someone to go home to. She shouldn’t be the only one that was miserable. However, it seemed that Gideon very much did not want to talk about his love life, because he instantly guided the conversation away.

“I thought we agreed on no relationship talk.”

There was something in the way he said it that made Robin want to pry, and she had just enough alcohol in her system to ignore his boundaries and push. “We agreed not to talk about my now defunct love life. Not yours.”

“Mine could be defunct.”

“But I’m guessing it’s not,” Robin argued. She was feeling a little hurt that Gideon wasn’t talking to her while. He might be trying to protect her feelings, but he was still her friend. She wanted to know what was going on in her life. “Come on, don’t make me bug Juliet.”

There was a flash of something that crossed Gideon’s face, and suddenly Robin knew. She wanted to hit herself for not putting it together earlier. It explained why Gideon was trying to so hard to get her to like Juliet. It also probably explained why Juliet was here, and why he didn’t come up alone. “It’s her, isn’t it?” 

He had the decency not to lie. “That obvious, huh?”

“ _Gideon_.”

“Look, Robin, I really did want to tell you, but we wanted to figure out things on our end first, because once it got out, it would be _a thing_ ,” he tried to explain. “And it’s going well, but then you and Pallavi broke up, and I couldn’t tell you then, because I would feel like a major asshole rubbing my relationship in your face. But I guess I did that anyway, huh?”

“If you’re happy, I’m happy,” she told him truthfully. “But please promise me this _thing_ isn’t because you’re settling.”

His eyes widened. “You have seen her, haven’t you? I don’t think she’d be considered someone to just settle on in any realm. Ever.”

“This isn’t – I didn’t mean settling based how hot she is.” Robin shook her head. She somewhat wished she were sober for this conversation, but then again, it also made her want to drink more. She was having difficulty finding the correct words, and the alcohol swimming through her did not help. “I mean…I’m so incredibly terrified I am not going to find someone, and if I want romance and companionship, I’m just going to be stuck with some girl from Storybrooke. And, I don’t want you to date her because she’s easy to be with or you’re scared. You’re such a good guy, and you will find someone perfect for you.”

“I appreciate your concern, Robin, I really do,” he said. He squeezed her hand in assurance, and sent a smile her way. “But, listen, I’m not settling. Trust me, okay? I’m with her because she makes me happy. Her getting the Storybrooke stuff is just an added bonus.” 

“So this means I have to like her, huh?” 

“Maybe a little bit,” he replied with his laugh. He then schooled his expression into something serious. “I know we said we weren’t going to talk about your love life, but I want you to know that everything you said to me applies to you, right? You don’t need to settle on some random girl from Storybrooke. You’re going to find someone perfect, okay?” 

“Okay.” She wanted to believe him. She really wasn’t sure where she stood on the whole thing. She felt a wave of guilt every time she even entertained the idea of being with someone other than Pallavi, but she was also terrified of being alone and unable to find someone she could really share her life – all parts of it, magic included – with openly and honestly. She felt the pinprick of tears at the thought, the weight of it all coming back to her, but she tried to push it down. “For the sake of my own emotional well-being, and you know, me not wanting to cry, can we talk about something else?”

“Deal,” he said with a wink. “So, assuming you aren’t too hungover tomorrow, J and I were thinking about going sightseeing – Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the art museum, all those things.”

Robin mulled over the idea. In the two years she had lived in Philly, she hadn’t truly done any of the sightseeing. She loathed doing the whole cliché tourist thing. Besides, knowing what she did now about Gideon and Juliet, she loathed to be a third wheel. While she was happy for him, she wasn’t sure if she could stand to see any cutesy couple interactions. Not to mention that spending an afternoon with Juliet “Double Majoring in Art History and Classics” Jones did not sound like fun.

“How about I don’t join you, but we can meet up for dinner?” she proposed. “I’ve got a ton of reading to do by Monday.”

Gideon surprisingly didn’t press her. She half-expected him to, what with the way he’d been watching over her. Then again, he likely wanted to spend time alone with his girlfriend – she couldn’t believe they were dating or whatever – while in a new, unfamiliar town. It’s what she had with Pallavi when they traveled together.

Robin wondered what they would be doing in Chicago, had she been there. Before things fell apart, Pallavi had been regaling her with stories of her old haunts and favorite restaurants. “I know it’s cliché, babe, but we’re getting deep dish. No arguments!”

She felt a pang in her chest when she thought of Pallavi. She missed her, wished she were here now. Pallavi had only met Gideon a handful of times, but she’d liked him well enough. Robin had wished they could all spend more time together. They wouldn’t even get the chance now.  
  
She wanted to drink some more, but found her glass empty. It was then, as if by magic, Juliet returned from wherever she had been, unceremoniously dropping a shot glass in front of Robin. “Drink up, buttercup. It’s tequila time!”

Maybe Juliet Jones wasn’t so bad after all, Robin thought as she drained a shot. She was sure she would be thinking the opposite the next morning when she almost certainly would be throwing up, but as the alcohol burned her throat, she was grateful for the distraction.

They continued to drink more throughout the night, talking about everything from books, to television shows, to the Klimt exhibit at the art museum that Juliet was just dying to see. (Robin was convinced that Juliet had been actually offended to learn that she had never visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art.) And when they left the bar, both Robin and Juliet stumbling, Robin was proud of herself that she didn’t once cry all night, nor did she allow thoughts of Pallavi to completely consume her. 

In fact, she had fun. A lot of fun, even. Fun she wouldn’t have experienced had she stayed in her cramped studio with nothing but her books and loneliness. Instead, with the help of her friends, she was able to prove that there was life after a proverbial relationship death. And as she curled into her bed, she reminded herself that she would need to be looking for an internship soon enough. Maybe she could look for something in New York.


End file.
